Lye, K.A. (1995) Potamogetonaceae in Flora of Somalia 4:14-15
Plants slender to robust aquatics surviving cold or dry perios by rhizomes or specialized buds borne either on the rhizomes or on the leafy stems. Leaves stipulate; stipules either free from the leaf bases or adnate to them on their lower part (forming a stipular sheath and free above, the upper portion termed a ligule, in either case, the basal portion closed or open; submerged leaf blades usually thin and translucent, linear and grasslike to oblong, 1-many-veined; floating leaf blades usually more coriaceous and opaque. Inflorescences spikelike, cylindrical to ovoid, open or contracted, sometimes interrupted, raised a little above the water level if wind-pollinated or submerged and water-pollinated. Tepals 4, bases clawed, tips rounded, green or brownish. Fruits brown or greenish, often asymmetric.
Potamogeton includes about 100 species, most of which grow in fresh water but a few growing in dry and saline areas.